Halo: Team Rapier
by Booksaboutnothing
Summary: Set after the events of the novel Ghosts of Onyx. Team Rapier is the best team left of Spartan III Gamma Company. They're being sent on a mission to obtain a weapon that could save Earth from the Covenant. Original Characters star. Please Read and Review
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters are mostly mine. But the general concept and all that jazz belong to Bungie and Microsoft.

Chapter 1

The sensation of being awoken from Cryo-stasis was always disorienting and Paul worried that he would never get used to it. He glanced around and to see that the rest of his squad was being woken up by the technicians.

"What's going on?" Paul asked the technician waking up Marisa-G042.

"I don't know," the technician replied. "But Admiral Hood has requested that you be re-outfitted with MJOLNIR Mark VI armour, and then to report for your assignment."

Once the disorientation of being unfrozen wore off from all the Spartans, Paul gathered his team.

"Alright Rapier, we're being re-outfitted with MJOLNIR Mark VI armour and sent on a mission. It's obviously got to be one hell of a dangerous mission if they're giving us this upgrade." Paul explained to his team.

"That or we're now the last Spartan's left and they need us." Marisa commented.

Paul snapped a glance at his second in command. He didn't appreciate the pessimistic tone, it wasn't good for squad moral. But now that it was said there wasn't much he could do about it.

"That's a rather Grim possibility," Jarred-G123 commented.

Kella-G314 and Ryder G-188 both nodded in agreement.

"Look we don't know anything so let's not speculate," Paul said. "I some how doubt the rest of Gamma Company was killed while we were in Stasis."

They then followed the technician who took them to the armory where they were fitted with the highly advanced MJOLNIR Mark VI armour. The armour provided a great deal more protection than their old Semi Powered Infiltration (SPI) Armour. It definitely weighed more though, and their movement in it was slightly slowed.

"Take a little while to get used to your armour," one of the Technicians said. "You're then to report directly to Admiral Hood."

"We'll get used to them on the way to the Admiral," Paul said. "So take us there now."

The five Spartan III's followed the technician over to the lift and he took them up to the command deck and led them to the briefing room. Inside the briefing room Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood and Captain Jeffrey Maxwell were quietly chatting.

"Sirs, Spartan Paul-G072 and Team Rapier reporting for duty," Paul said saluting the two officers.

Behind him the rest of his team stiffened and snapped off salutes.

"At ease soldiers," Admiral Hood said.

Team Rapier dropped their salutes but continued to stand stiffly at attention.

"As you know the Covenant are attacking Earth even as we speak, and even with you and all the other Spartan's from Gamma Company we wouldn't be able to repel their forces." Admiral Hood said. "But we've recently received information that Vice Admiral Whitcomb managed to lure the Covenant into taking on board a NOVA bomb which detonated wiping out an entire covenant planetary ship."

"The megaton yield of such a bomb, that just…" Ryder began muttering to himself but stopped when Paul shot him an annoyed look.

Admiral Hood nodded his thanks at Paul and then continued. "As far as we know the Covenant don't know what happened and that we were responsible. However all of our NOVA prototypes were lost when the Covenant drove us off of New Mars. However ONI has reported from recon that there is a minimal Covenant presence there."

"If we were to send a large force that would probably make the Covenant aware of something and they might discover our NOVA bombs," Paul surmised.

"That's exactly our fear Spartan," Admiral Hood responded with a nod.

"Your team is considered to be the best of the remaining teams from Gamma company," Captain Maxwell said. "I will be personally flying you in for insertion. You'll be sent in along with a company of 20 of my finest marines. Team Scimitar will be backing you up on this mission and they will be sent in if you need help. But we're going to try and keep Spartan presence down to try and lead the Covenant to believe that this is just an attempt to get some supplies that are needed here. Hopefully that will keep the forces you'll end up facing to a minimum."

"Don't worry sirs," Paul said. "My Team and I are more than capable of completing this mission…"

"Oh there is one more thing," Admiral Hood interrupted. "Given the success of the Spartan known widely as Master Chief, but perhaps known to you as Spartan John-117 when he has been accompanied by the AI Cortona we've decided to send a Smart AI with you."

He waved his hand towards a holoprojecter which lit up showing as a bluish-purple Spartan.

"This is Spartacus," Admiral Hood introduced. "He will be accompanying you. He's has a complete history of everything that occurred on New Mars while it was occupied by Humans as well as extremely detailed knowledge of the planets geography before Covenant occupation and full details of the recon of occupied New Mars."

The small holographic Spartan nodded at them but remained otherwise silent.

"We've programmed him with a personality similar to you Spartans." Captain Maxwell said. "He'll pretty much be part of the team."

Paul stuck his hand on the Holoprojecter and the holographic Spartan vanished. Paul could almost feel the AI downloading itself into his MJOLNIR armour.

"Welcome to Team Rapier," Paul muttered to the AI.

The AI said nothing but Paul could sense that it was pleased to be welcomed. He'd always had a strange connection to the various AI especially Endless Summer and Deep Winter who he'd grown up with on Onyx.

"Given the gravity of the situation here on Earth we're going to be sending you as soon the marines are ready." Admiral Hood said. "Captain estimated time of departures."

"We should be ready to leave in one hour. But I'd like to get two Scorpion tanks on board if that's possible sir," Captain Maxwell replied.

"I'll make it my top priority." Admiral Hood told him, he then saluted and Team Rapier and Captain Maxwell mirrored him. "You're all dismissed."

Admiral Hood then left the briefing room to get on a shuttle to travel to where he was more needed.

"I'm sure you'll want to do some strategic planning for your upcoming mission," Captain Maxwell said. "I'll leave that to you, I've got my own issues to worry about. You have free use of the briefing room until we depart."

"Thank you sir," Paul said saluting Captain Maxwell as he left.

Captain Maxwell returned the salute and then departed for the bridge, the door to the briefing room sliding shut behind him. The Spartan then removed their helmets and set them down on the conference table in the room. They didn't dare sit in the chairs fearing that they would just collapse under their immense weight.

Paul placed his hand on the holoprojecter and Spartacus appeared in the middle of the table.

"Spartacus what can you tell us about Project Nova and New Mars?" Paul asked.

The holographic Spartan disappeared and was replaced by a holographic display of a planet. It was a dusty red colour, very similar to Mars.

"New Mars is a habitable planet in the Alpha Proxima star system." Spartacus informed them, it's voice reminded Paul of Lieutenant-Commander Ambrose also known as Spartan Kurt-058.

"As long as the planet's habitable that's all we need to know," Marisa interrupted the AI. "Tell us about NOVA."

The AI zoomed in on the planet and displayed what a small complex.

"The majority of the research for Nova was done here at this facility. It was controlled by two AI's, a Smart AI named Juniper and Dumb AI. The Smart AI would be nearing the end of it's lifespan right around now unless it was shut down, or destroyed. The Dumb AI would probably be deactivated if not destroyed by the covenant. There is a 15 probability that Juniper is still functional and has managed to hide itself with its self-preservation protocols but it is no longer active. It is likely that Juniper erased all data pertaining to Project Nova and hid the information with itself, where ever that may be."

"Are there any other places of interest?" Paul inquired.

"There is a natural uranium mine and processing reactor, here," Spartacus said zooming out and then zooming in on a mountain range about 100 kilometres away. "There evidence from the recon flight that the Covenant just blew up the entrance to the mine sealing it off. It is possible that the any computer systems inside are still active and that Juniper may have hid itself there."

"What's the likely status of the main research centre?" Jarred asked.

"It appears to be in good shape, and it is where the Covenant are keeping their garrison of troops," Spartacus replied.

"I think we should check the mines first," Paul said. "There's no resistance there and it's also where we're more likely to find what we're looking for."

He glanced around at the rest of Team Rapier to see if anyone else thought they should try something else, but they were all in agreement.

"Well then let's hope that Admiral Hood can get us those Scorpion Tanks," Paul said. "I'd hate to have to try and dig out those tunnels myself."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Characters are mostly mine. But the general concept and all that jazz belong to Bungie and Microsoft.

Chapter 2

"Sergeant David Jones, commander B company," a Marine introduced himself to Paul.

"Nice to meet you Sergeant," Paul replied roughly. "I'm Paul and this is Marisa, Jarred, Kella and Ryder. Now I suggest you strap in because this ride sure as hell won't be comfortable."

They had recently come out of slipstream around New Mars on board the _War Machine_ a specially designed UNSC frigate that almost qualified as a stealth craft. On radar it would appear rather similar to a lone Longsword Class starfighter.

In orbit around the planet were two covenant destroyers. They would more than enough to destroy _War Machine_ should the ship be discovered. However _War Machine_ had come out of slipstream on the far side of the planet from them and had gone into a geosynchronous orbit that would keep it hidden from them. The Pelicans were equipped with expendable fuel tanks that would let them make the long journey across the planet through atmosphere to try and avoid Covenant detection. It would be tiring on all involved, but it would be the safest way to infiltrate the compound.

"Something makes me think this is all too easy," Jarred muttered as they were flying towards the mine.

"That's probably just because you're not used to your MJOLNIR armour," Marisa joked.

Paul gave a quick cut of his throat to signal they were supposed to cut the chatter, but both of them ignored him. They weren't due to land for another two hours.

"Shit, we've got Banshees inbound on the radar," the pilot shouted back into the hold.

Paul clambered past Marisa and Jarred into the doorway into the cockpit and glanced at the radar and then out the windscreen.

"What's the terrain like here?" he asked.

"We're flying over a large canyon at the moment, can't really get much of a reading on what it's like at the bottom, but it's about two klicks deep." The co-pilot replied.

"Something about that canyon just doesn't seem right to me," Jarred said.

"Spartacus, do you know anything about this Canyon?" Paul asked the AI in his suit.

"The canyon was surveyed when New Mars was first discovered," Spartacus replied through the speaker on the side of Paul's helmet. "There were large deposits of raw Iron Ore and a great deal of Iron Pyrite down there, not surprising since the planet is incredibly rich in Iron, which is what gives it its red colour..."

"That's more than enough," Paul cut him off.

"Do you think the Covenant have a need for Iron," Ryder asked. "I thought all their stuff was alloyed."

"It is," Spartacus replied. "However iron tends to be made up approximately 11 percent of most common Covenant alloys."

"But what good would sulphur do for them? It's just, Sulphur," Jarred commented.

"Unknown," Spartacus replied. "My knowledge on Covenant technologies is rather limited."

Paul was surprised that the AI had managed to keep his response short for once. It definitely liked to prove that it knew a great deal and liked to talk. Although his voice sounded like Lieutenant-Commander Ambrose, his speech patterns were completely different. It made all five of the Spartans feel odd. Spartacus would definitely take a little getting used to.

"Go down into the Canyon," Paul said. "Hopefully the Banshees will miss us. Radio the other Pelican and have them follow."

The Pelican's nose dipped and everyone inside who wasn't strapped in began to feel weightless as the Pelican went into a rapid decent. The Spartans toppled into each other causing the Pelican to roll from the shift of so much weight. Fortunately the auto stabilizers kicked in and it levelled out before tumbling into a fatal spin. The Pelican then roughly thumped to a stop.

"I managed to bring the Pelican to a stop on a ledge just half a kilometre down," the pilot said. "There something not right about the bottom of that canyon."

"We'll go and take it a look," Paul said. "Keep the ship ready in case we need to make an emergency take off, but keep power to a minimum so we won't get picked up on sensors, and keep me updated on those Banshees, I want to know when it's clear to get out of here."

Paul turned around to Team Rapier.

"Alright Rapier, we're just going out for a little recon. Take up defensive positions, protect the ship first."

The team nodded and they spilled out of the Pelican leaving the marines inside. Ryder and Kella took up positions near the ship keeping M41 SSR MAV/AW "Spanker" Rocket Launchers aimed up at the sky. Paul pulled out a pair of electro-binoculars and crawled to the edge of the canyon and stared down. Marisa and Jarred squatted beside him their sniper rifles at the ready.

"What the heck are we looking?" Jarred asked in a whisper.

"I don't really know," Paul replied quietly. "Spartacus any ideas?"

"This seems to be some sort of mining operation," Spartacus said. "But it appears to be human, not Covenant. However I have no record of there ever being any human activity in the location before the Covenant occupation."

"Well if they are human they probably have some way to detect those Banshees and they won't be showing their faces for a while." Paul said.

"Well it looks like we might have survivors," Marisa said. "This changes plans completely."

"Could be Covenant using our technology for a mine of their own," Jarred suggested.

"I doubt it," Paul said. "They'd rather die than use any of our technology. Beside I'm pretty sure they've got something more efficient."

"Well the only way we'll find out is if we go down there and investigate." Marisa said.

"Kella, Ryder, back in the Pelican," Paul called out.

Team Rapier quickly scrambled back into the Pelican.

"What's the status of those Banshees?" Paul asked.

"Doesn't seem like they noticed us or the other Pelican, they're heading on a course that will take them about 45 clicks from here," the pilot replied.

"Alright then we're moving out," Paul said.

"But they could still detect us if we fly above the canyon." The co-pilot protested.

"We're not going above the canyon," Paul replied. "We're going down into it. There may be some human survivors down there. Can we open a channel to _War Machine_?"

"We can probably establish a narrow beam transmission," the co-pilot said. "But there might be some interference."

"Do it," Paul said. "I want them to know where we are in case we need backup."

The co-pilot operated the radio.

"_War Machine _come in, this is Pelican 343 _Gentle Touch_ come in _War Machine_."

"Pelican 343 this is _War Machine_ what is your status?" came the voice of Captain Maxwell, mixed with a great deal of static.

"Captain Maxwell, this is Spartan Paul-G072. We had to set down in a canyon order to avoid a pair of Covenant Banshees. But it appears that there may be human survivors down at the bottom of the canyon. Request permission to alter the mission plan."

There was silence for a moment on the other hand, then there was the background noise of murmuring that combined with the static on the radio. "Permission granted. But don't get you hopes up, chances are that they ran there when the Covenant arrived but they've probably all died of starvation or a lack of water by now."

"We're wary that it might be a Covenant trap sir," Jarred cut in.

"We'll be out of radio contact while we're down there, so I'm going to leave the Pelican only part way down the canyon to relay any messages from us to you." Paul informed Captain Maxwell.

"That's a sound plan Spartan, good luck." Maxwell said and the radio went dead.

"Alright where are those Banshees at now?" Paul asked the pilot.

"They're still about 20 clicks away," the pilot replied.

"They don't have very advanced sensors, so they shouldn't be able to figure out what's going on." Paul remarked. "In form the other Pelican what we're doing and have them navigate to where we are through the canyon if they can. It should be wide enough."

"Yes sir," the pilot replied as the engines fired up with a whine.

"We don't know what we're gonna find down there," Paul said to the Spartans and marines. "And this isn't part of our mission. So no unnecessary risks play it safe, stick together and stay sharp."

With that the Pelican lifted off and began descending down into the great abyss beneath them, unsure of just what they might find down there.

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Please Read and review, Chapter 3 is coming soon and you'll find out just what is down there


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Characters are mostly mine. But the general concept and all that jazz belong to Bungie and Microsoft.

Chapter 3

The Pelican set down gently for once in between two pieces of heavy mining equipment. Team Rapier and the Marines piled out of the Pelican. The marines quickly set up a perimeter watching the terrain carefully with their MA5B Assault rifles. Team Rapier inspected the mining equipment examining it for booby traps. The Pelican than took off to go perch back up on the ledge nearer the top of the canyon to act as a relay to communicate with the other Pelican and _War Hammer_.

"Looks clean," Jarred called out as he inspected a large excavator.

"It looks like this stuff hasn't been used in a while, I'd estimate two months, maybe three." Paul said. "What do you think Jones?"

The Marine Sergeant who had remained quiet up till now glanced around as he casually held his BR55 Battle Rifle against his side.

"I don't think the Covenant have any idea this stuff is here," Sergeant Jones said. "I can't see any evidence that they've been here at all. No foot prints, no empty grunt methane tanks, not a shred of their tech, nothing."

"What about you Spartacus? You got any information about this equipment in your files?" Paul asked.

"Indeed, the serial numbers match those of equipment from the uranium mine," Spartacus replied.

"Well someone must have moved it here, and the definitely used it. But for what?" Marisa wondered aloud.

"It's hard to tell what's just fallen rocks and what could be a cave in along these walls," Kella stated.

"Guys, I think I've found something," Ryder called out.

The rest of Team Rapier and Sergeant Jones rushed over to join Ryder while the Marines continued to stand watch.

"What is it?" Paul asked.

Ryder was standing next to a rather large pile of rocks. It looked like it was the result of weather knocking loose rocks from above.

"This looks just like another landslide of rocks," Ryder said. "And that's what I thought, but then I noticed this."

Ryder pointed to some black markings on several of the rocks.

"What is it?" Sergeant Jones asked confused.

"C-7 foaming explosive markings," Paul replied. "Somebody purposely created this landslide."

"Probably the survivors of the Covenant attack that were able to hide here." Marisa remarked. "They probably brought the mining equipment to dig out a tunnel to live and then sealed it off with C-7 to avoid detection."

"Definitely couldn't be a Covenant trap," Paul said. "They might use our mining equipment but no way in hell would they touch our explosives."

"So what are we going to do?" Jones asked.

"We've got to move these rocks," Paul replied. "If there are any survivors we've got to get them out of here. Spartacus just give me a rounded off break down on who was on New Mars when the covenant attacked."

"New Mars was being defended by approximately 10,000 Marines and there was roughly 5,000 miners, and 5,000 research staff. As well as 10,000 other civilians on planet." Spartacus answered. "There are two rumours in my files that there was a team of five Spartans in cryo-stasis but that is highly unlikely."

"Wouldn't that be great if it was true," Kella commented.

"Let's not worry about that," Paul said. "Let's worry about getting this open? Suggestions?"

"C-12 shaped charges could get this opened easily," Ryder said. "But there's the noise factor too. The canyon might create so much echo that Covenant come and investigate."

"Let's get that excavator fired up then," Paul said. "We've got to get that landslide moved."

"If I may make a suggestion?" Sergeant Jones asked. "But what about using C-7? I mean it'll take a little longer than the C-12, but it'll be quieter and quicker than using the excavator."

"Good point," Paul agreed. "Alright Ryder, Kella lay down the C-7."

Kella and Ryder worked efficiently putting down copious amounts of the foaming explosive and then planted a detonator. They stepped back and set off the charges blasting the rock away and leaving a gaping hole in the side of the canyon.

"Move in marines!" Sergeant Jones called.

However Team Rapier took point ahead of the marines and went in first.

"Stop!" Paul ordered his voice echoing through the tunnel.

"What is it?" Jones asked.

"Antlion Anti-Personnel Mines," Ryder replied.

"Jarred, Kella, deal with the mines," Paul ordered.

The two Spartans began disabling the mines with surprising grace considering the size and bulkiness of the armour they were wearing. Suddenly Ryder made the quiet motion with his hand and all the Spartans fell silent. Paul held up his hand to try and get the marines to be quiet.

From down in the tunnel as faint sound came echoing. Nobody was able to tell just what exactly it was, but Paul whistled the Spartan code for all clear, "Oly Oly Oxen Free."

There was a moment of uneasy silence and then there came a reply of the same notes. Paul thought for a second and realized that the rumour of a team of Spartans on New Mars was actually true. It couldn't be any members of the Spartan II program since their whereabouts were all more or less known. Gray Team had travelled to a location outside of known space, and New Mars was certainly not outside of known space. So these clearly had to be Spartan III's from Gamma Company.

"It's Team Flamberge," Jarred remarked.

"How do you know?" Kella asked.

"Remember how they were pulled for guard detail as punishment after they had that screwed up rescue op?" Jarred asked.

"You think that they were sent here for guard detail?" Ryder asked.

"Makes sense." Paul said. "I mean if you're gonna force a Spartan to guard something might as well make it something important."

"They were sent in cryo-stasis about a day before the attack to wherever it was they went," Marisa recalled. "That would account for the rumours about Spartans in cryo-stasis."

"It all makes perfect sense," Jarred said. "Although I don't exactly look forward to working with them. They were always the most undisciplined team."

The other Spartans nodded in agreement.

"You know what? I'd be happy to work with any Spartan any day," Sergeant Jones said.

"He's right," Paul said. "Shouldn't matter who it is."

"Whoa man, Spartan II's!" a voice said.

Paul spun raised his MA5C in reaction as he scanned the area for the source of the voice. He noticed the faint outline of a Spartan in SPI armour just on the other side of the minefield.

"We may be wearing MJOLNIR armour, but we're still just Spartan III's underneath," Paul said removing his helmet.

"Oh Team Rapier," the other Spartan said deactivating his camouflage and letting them see him.

"And you're from Team Flamberge I presume?" Paul asked.

"One of two remaining members," the Spartan replied as he removed his helmet letting Paul see his face with blonde hair cut into a short Mohawk and squinty blue eyes. "I'm Jason-G311."

"Can you deactivate these mines so we can discuss what's going on?" Paul asked.

"Sure thing," Jason replied.

Paul turned around to Sergeant Jones, "Have someone radio our situation back to the Pelican, let _War Machine _know that we've found survivors. We've got two Spartans. Leave four marines here to watch the entrance and to act as another relay."

"It's safe to cross now," Jason said.

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"So what exactly happened?" Paul asked Jason as they walked down the tunnels to where the other survivors were.

"Well when the covenant showed up they brought my team out of cryo-stasis. However by the time we were ready to go, the Covenant were landing on the planet. We knew that we couldn't let NOVA fall into Covenant hands so we gathered as much research as possible and brought it out here were we built a tunnel and buried ourselves in here, hoping someone would eventually rescue us." Jason explained.

"That's got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Jarred commented. "The fact that we discovered you were down here was complete luck."

"Look it was a desperate time and we did what we had to, to make sure that NOVA wouldn't fall into Covenant hands. What would you have done?" Jason demanded angrily.

"I would have fought them off till I couldn't fight anymore." Jarred said.

"And Nova would have fallen into Covenant hands," Jason retorted. "You don't think the Covenant wouldn't have interrogated the people for information or anything. Of course they would, and there was no way we were gonna win when we're out number 11 to 1 or could have been even worse than that. Either way we were screwed, it's not like we had a working NOVA bomb to blow the covenant up with either. So while three members of my team and most of the marines held the Covenant office. We made the tough decision and brought the top researchers, most of the children and a few miners along with myself, Kylie-G023 and about 40 marines and we entrenched ourselves into this canyon."

"So how many of you are left?" Paul asked.

"We've lost all our miners trying to expanded the tunnels in accidents," Jason replied. "We've still got 35 marines and we've got all the children and researchers. It hasn't been horrible losses yet, but our food supplies are dwindling."

"Well don't worry we'll get you out of here, how many kids you got?" Marisa asked.

"Four hundred fifty-five," Jason replied.

"How old are they?" Kella inquired.

"None of them are more than 6," Jason answered.

"And the parents?"

"They're all orphans; they've more or less been adopted by myself, Kylie and the marines." Jason responded. "Those researchers... if they didn't weren't so important I'd kill them myself."

"What about the AI?" Paul asked. "Juniper what happened to it?"

"We downloaded it onto a disk and hid it in the uranium mine. It's got all the files for making a Nova Bomb, but that place is locked down tight by the Covenant I bet." Jason replied.

"Not as tight as you'd think," Paul replied. "Look we're gonna try and get you guys out of here but we might have some trouble with that. We came here thinking you were all dead, we were just hoping that Juniper was still active and that we could bring it back to help build Nova bombs to wipe out the Covenant who are attacking earth."

"They're at Earth?" Jason asked with surprise.

Paul nodded, "And it's not going well for us."

"Then we're really gonna need those Nova bombs," Jason said. "And Juniper, he's got most of the research. Sure the people we saved could probably put together another bomb pretty quickly. But with Juniper we could probably cut that time in half."

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Find out if they're able to get the survivors to safety and infiltrate the New Mars compound in the next chapter. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Characters are mostly mine. But the general concept and all that jazz belong to Bungie and Microsoft.

Chapter 4

Paul was up in the Pelican on ledge speaking directly to Captain Maxwell. He had left Marisa and Sergeant Jones in charge down there.

"Sir we've got a lot of survivors down here," Paul reported.

"What are the numbers?" Maxwell inquired.

"We've got four hundred and fifty-five children, all around the ages of four to six, fifty-seven researchers, thirty-five marines, and two Spartan-III's." Paul answered. "We need to get them out of here though. They're short on food supplies, although they've got more than enough water since they've come across a natural underground spring."

"What about the AI?" Maxwell asked.

"Juniper was deactivated and loaded onto a disk and hidden in the uranium mine," Paul answered. "One of the Spartans was the one that hid it. He knows where it is."

"Alright, we've been monitoring the Covenant and watching their Banshee patrols. We won't be able to send in Pelicans to evacuate the survivors for about twelve hours judging by their pattern. Of course you'll be stuck there to so you might as well use the time to get some rest. It's going to get pretty hectic once we can start sending more Pelicans in." Maxwell said.

"Yes sir. Now I would like to move the Pelican's down to the bottom of the canyon. It would put us out of radio contact, but we'd be a lot less likely to be discovered by a patrol."

"That sounds like a good idea," Maxwell agreed. "If we haven't arrived in 24 hours something has gone seriously wrong, knock on wood."

Paul signed off and turned back to the Pelican pilot.

"Let's take it down into the bottom of the canyon and try and hide it under and outcropping," Paul said.

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Paul, Jarred and Jason were outside the tunnel watching the sky for signs of any incoming Banshees.

"So what's that MJOLNIR armour like?" Jason asked.

"Harder to move in than the SPI, and a lot less stealthy," Jarred replied gruffly.

"But you feel a lot safer in it," Paul added.

Paul had noticed that Jason liked to make small talk a lot, which was unbecoming of a Spartan. They had been trained to be utterly silent except when necessary.

"What do you think about him?" Jarred asked Paul privately over their suits internal com system.

"He's not much better than a standard marine in SPI armour," Paul replied glancing at Jason without moving his head.

"That may be true, but I think he knows something, and he doesn't want to tell us," Jarred said.

"Knows something about what?" Paul asked.

"No idea, but he seems so jittery so it's gotta be bothering him," Jarred replied. "But he seems willing to make small talk why don't you ask him?"

"Something bothering you?" Paul asked Jason.

"No, nothings bothering me," Jason replied completely unconvincingly.

"You're lying." Paul said.

Jason glanced around nervously and then motioned for Paul and Jarred to come closer. They glanced at each other and then shrugged and obliged.

"Look there's something really weird about this planet, it makes women act weird." Jason said.

Behind their masks' both Jarred and Paul had their faces contorted into expressions of complete and utter confusion.

"What do you mean?" Jarred asked.

"When we were trying to evacuate the base we tried to bring a lot of the wives as well to help look after the children," Jason replied. "But they wouldn't leave, even if they had children. They were way to concerned with staying with their husbands, or boyfriends or whoever."

"That's a little odd, but I don't see what that has to do with the planet." Paul said.

"Normally I wouldn't either," Jarred said. "But I was talking to some of the kids and they were talking about how their parents used to fight a lot and but then after moving here their parents started getting along better and began, well neglecting them to do other things."

"Well maybe the new surroundings helped restore the romance that was missing," Jarred suggestion. "It's probably just a coincidence."

"A coincidence doesn't have very similar stories from over half the kids," Jason said. "But it doesn't end there, then there's Kylie."

Paul had barely spoken with the other Spartan left from Team Flamberge, but she seemed normal. Well as normal as a Spartan could be.

"She seemed normal to me," Jarred said.

"That's because she's fighting it, whatever it is." Jason said. "But you know that whatever it was they did to us killed our sexual drive."

Both Jarred and Paul nodded in affirmation.

"Well something here has brought back Kylie's." Jason explained. "She's been fighting it, but there have been a couple cases where she's made advances on me."

Both Paul and Jarred snickered, "That's ridiculous."

"Actually Spartan G311's observations are indeed factual." Spartacus cut in surprising all three Spartans. "In the few psychological records I have about families, all of them report an increase in the romance of the relationship."

"Wait so you're saying that something on this planet is making people horny?" Jarred asked.

"No," Spartacus replied. "And I would greatly prefer it if you used a more appropriate term than 'Horny'. The phenomenon seems to affect exclusively women. In my records about women in Lesbian relationships there is an increase in romance in all of them. However in my records about men in gay relationships there is no indicator of any changes in the romance of the relationship. There was a small amount of research done into a certain fungus that grows on this planet. It thrives seemingly everywhere, but the most interesting fact is how it's let's off a gas that is actually tinged with specific pheromones that affect only women."

"So this pheromone..." Jarred began.

"Pheromones, there's actually several of them," Spartacus corrected him.

"Whatever, anyway they affect only women. So does this mean that Marisa and Kella can be affected by this?" Jarred asked.

"Most definitely," Spartacus answered.

"Well then we've got to keep them away from this stuff," Jarred exclaimed. "We'll have to bring in Ben and Liam from Scimitar."

"Oh it's too late for that," Spartacus said. "I noticed there was quite a lot of the fungus near the natural spring."

"Well is there anything we can do about this?" Paul asked.

"Just keeping them away from it should be enough," Spartacus said. "But that'll take time at least a week or two. It shouldn't affect their performance that much since their sexual drive is as you said 'killed'. You may get a better insight into their personal feelings."

The three Spartans looked at each other.

"I don't think I want to know," Jarred stated flatly.

Just then there was a noise behind them and Ryder came sprinting around the corner.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Paul asked.

"There is something seriously wrong with Kella," Ryder answered. "She's acting really weird."

"There is nothing weird about the way Kella is acting," Spartacus stated. "It is a perfectly normal biological reaction."

"Care to explain what Spartacus means?" Ryder asked.

"There's this fungus that makes women need to get all intimate, is the short version. It's that stuff right near the water supply." Jason answered.

Paul could tell that Ryder didn't believe Jason, so he nodded an affirmative. "That's pretty much it in a nut shell."

"What about Marisa?" Jarred asked. "Is she acting strange?"

"I didn't really notice," Ryder replied.

"Some Spartan you are," Paul teased him. "You'll stand tough in the face of a thousand marching elites but one woman makes the slightest advance on you and you run in fear."

"I've never actually faced a thousand marching elites," Ryder stated. "But it sounds much more preferable."

Both Jason and Jarred laughed slapped their thighs in an unusual outward display of emotion. Paul kept his emotions in check, though he had the urge to laugh he fought against it. He turned and walked away a little bit.

"Spartacus can I ask you something in private?" Paul asked the AI privately.

"Very well," the AI replied. "What do you wish to know?"

"Well it's more of a theory and I'd like you to confirm or deny my suspicions if you can." Paul replied.

"Sounds interesting, what have you come up with?" Spartacus asked.

"Spartans are trained not to show their emotions and to be rather quiet and stoic. But since we've been on the planet I've noticed that Jason is rather talkative and emotional, and that our team has started to become talkative and emotional as well. Ryder is displaying his fear outwardly and Jarred is outwardly display his pleasure at Ryder's discomfort." Paul said. "So I'm wondering if maybe these pheromones are having an effect on us as well."

"That is entirely possible," Spartacus replied. "Another theory is that you're experiencing some sort of psychological phenomenon. Kella and Marisa are more emotional and because they are you are becoming that way as well subconsciously. What the reasons behind that are I don't really know. I'm not big on psychological profiling."

"Well you're not affected by any of this," Paul said. "I want you to just watch out emotional responses to things."

"Look alive!" Jarred shouted excitedly. "We've got two boogies in bound on our position!"

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